Ex-Spy Chief's Return Fuels Peru's Crisis

L I M A, Peru, Oct. 24 -- The ominous return of Peru’s feared former spy chief after a brief exile confirmed for many the widely held beliefhere that he — more than President Alberto Fujimori — calls the shots.

And opposition leaders and analysts say topping VladimiroMontesinos’ agenda is a desperate bid for laws granting amnesty from prosecution for himself and his cronies who dominate Peru’s armed forces.

But his gamble has set off a crisis. First Vice PresidentFrancisco Tudela has resigned to protest the amnesty push. Talks with the opposition over new elections have broken off. And Fujimori has held emergency meetings with his Cabinet and military officials, later reassuring Peruvians that he was still in charge.

Montesinos unexpectedly abandoned Panama on Sunday night, where his asylum request had met with stiff resistance. He fled Peru in September after a video allegedly showing him bribing an opposition congressman set off a political crisis that led Fujimori to call early elections and offer to hand over power next July.

A white Beechcraft jet matching the description of the plane carrying Montesinos from Panama landed Monday morning at a military base in Pisco, a town 120 miles south of thecapital, Lima.

An Inconvenient Return

Fujimori has acknowledged that Montesinos is in Peru, but the whereabouts of the shadowy spymaster remain a mystery.

Tension built Monday as Fujimori convened emergency meetings with his Cabinet and, under heavy personal guard, visited military installations in Lima.

Fujimori emerged from the Government Palace after midnight and defiantly declared: “I exercise total control of the armed forces and I absolutely deny the possibility of a breakdown of constitutional order.”

But he admitted that Montesinos’ return had made negotiations with the opposition more difficult. He said he planned to continue touring military bases in the morning.

Montesinos’ return precipitated another breakdown in ongoing negotiations between the government, opposition and civic leaders, under the auspices of the Organization of American States. OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria was scheduled to arrive in Peru today try to jump-start the stalled talks.